What is the solution to mad cow disease?

What is needed is honest disclosure instead of silence, a joint investigation across borders, and targeted measures instead of panic. Yet even more dangerous than sick cattle is a humanity that loses its moral values.

An epidemic like this does not appear overnight. It usually has a long history. Often it is not the disease that is suppressed but the news of it, out of fear of losses, until a point comes when it can no longer be hidden. That is why the solution begins with honesty.

No single country can solve the problem alone. Meat and animals were traded across borders for years. What is needed is a joint, independent investigation that establishes where the disease began and how it spreads, followed by a common policy for all the countries concerned, rather than making one nation the scapegoat.

The measures themselves should also be well considered. Instead of slaughtering every animal everywhere, one should pinpoint the areas where the disease has definitely appeared and place them under quarantine. There the feed and the pastures must be examined thoroughly. If animals are killed but the cause is never found, the disease may simply return later.

Here religion asks above all for common sense. Harm and benefit must be weighed honestly, and responsibility must be clearly assigned. This only works when political parties put the good of the country above their own advantage.

Behind all this lies the bigger question. Anyone who thinks human values lie outside the national interest is mistaken. Wise laws achieve little if morality is missing when they are carried out. The first verse above reminds us that much of the harm on earth comes from what people themselves have done.